Index

Toothpaste

Toothpaste Recipe #1 (I will be trying new ones periodically)

2/3 Cup baking soda

1 tsp fine Sea Salt (yes sea salt, not regular table salt) If it seems to salty to you decrease or eliminate the salt.

10-15 drops peppermint essential oil. Or you can add your favorite flavor – spearmint, cinnamon,orange, etc. You can use extracts instead of EO if you prefer, just increase the amount to a tsp (or even two if that suits your personal tastes more).

filtered water (add to desired consistency)

That's it....simple! Works very well for us. I do give each "brusher" their own container.

I have also made a homemade herbal mouthwash and that is what you see to the right of the toothpaste. I can't for the life of me find that recipe right now. It was a tincture made from vodka. (Yes there is something naughty about swishing vodka around your mouth at 4am before heading to work..) I know I used Rosemary, Peppermint and Plantain. I want to say there was another herb used, perhaps Sage? I definitely need to dig up that recipe since as you can see I'm getting low!

Homemade Toothache Paste

OH BOY, do toothaches HURT!! One of the worst pains on the planet in my opinion!! In October of 2014 I had one heck of a bad tooth. One of my back molars was infected and causing pain to radiate from my upper jaw (where the tooth was) to the lower jaw and even into my shoulder and ear. In addition to using a clove tincture directly on the tooth as needed for pain I put the following paste on the tooth. (measurements are only approximate....it was at the time just a "dash of this and a dash of that" kind of recipe.

Coconut oil (1 tbl)

activated charcoal (1/4 tsp)

oil of oregano (5-8 drops)

myrrh gum - powdered (1/4 tsp)

garlic - powdered (1/4 tsp)

clove - powdered (1/2 tsp)

white willow bark tincture (5-10 drops)

I mixed this nasty mess up and used a cotton swab to apply it liberally to the affected tooth (and tried to pack it into the cracks around it). The first day I applied it at least 5-6 times. The second day the pain was significantly reduced when I got up in the morning and I applied this mixture only about three times. By the third day the pain was definately manageable.(which is where I'm at as of the writing of this) and again I will apply it about three times. I have a dentist appointment scheduled and I plan on keeping it!!

Herbal Cold Sore relief

I have gotten cold sores off and on for a few years. This year I finally found something that has worked awesome for me.

Formula #1

2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil

approximately 5 drops of lavender EO

10 drops of peppermint EO

Mix well.

I use a clean q-tip (each time) to apply to the sore on my lip as needed. Works awesome to sooth pain and actually cut the "heal time" to about three days for me!! So excited to finally have decent way to control this unsightly (and usually painful) problem!

Laundry soap (powdered)

We wash in only cold water and this works very well for us. We tried it with Ivory soap and had less success with the dissolving rate of that soap.

There are many ratios I have found using the following ingredients, but the one below has worked the best for us.

Ingredients:

1 Bar Fels Naptha soap (found in the laundry aisle....I have found it at Walmart, but not our local Meijers)

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)

1/4 cup baking soda (added this myself to help to eliminate odors)

Directions:

Grate the Fels Naptha either by using a cheese grater or (as we do NOW) use your food processor. I break up the bars into 5-6 pieces then process away.

Add the Borax, Washing Soda and Baking Soda and mix well.

Store in airtight container.

I use about one film canister for each large heavily soiled load. Don't know what a film canister is? I could be showing my age there...... It should be equal to just over one tablespoon for a large load.

This picture shows a batch that we grated rather than ran through the food processor. It really does work just as well, but for ME it's easier now in the processor.

NOTE: We started making LIQUID laundry soap mid 2014 and I will try and get that recipe up soon.